Golf: Paralysis fear after bunker accident

An unusual accident on a golf course in England left former New Zealand amateur representative Anita Boon fearing she faced life in a wheelchair.

It was a prospect that horrified Boon, who knew the frustration of such confinement because her late grandmother, Margaret McFarlane, spent her latter years robbed of mobility after she had a leg amputated.

"She told me she couldn't handle that. She knows what it's like because of her nana," Boon's mother, Judy Boon, said in Auckland yesterday within hours of arriving home from England.

It was Ms McFarlane, who died in May at 92, who introduced Boon to golf when she was nine.

Ultimately, Boon, 30, was lucky. She "only" suffered multiple fractures in her lower spine, a crushed sciatic nerve, and two hairline fractures in the upper back.

A series of titanium plates was screwed into place through her lower spine, in a 30cm line upwards from the tail bone.

Medical experts originally did not rule out paralysis after Boon was pinned in a bunker by a golf cart adapted for maintenance work at the Walton Heath golf course in Epsom, Surrey.

The accident happened on September 9 as Boon was busy in her role as a bunker maintenance worker on the greenkeeping staff at Walton Heath.

Boon was in the cab of the cart - modified for work purposes with a small hydraulic tray on the back - when it tipped into a bunker, pinning her in the sand.

"She said she thought about jumping out, but it all happened so quickly and she didn't have the time," Judy Boon said.

With the motor still running, the smell of diesel and oil left Boon fearing the vehicle might explode.

"She dragged herself out of the cab, which is probably where she did a lot of damage to her back. She dragged herself away from it and lay in the bunker for 20 minutes before a couple walking their dog found her."

Walton Heath is on common land and the public use it as a walking area. The couple heard a motor running and came over to investigate.

Boon was simply thankful her future is not as bleak as once thought.

"She's a very lucky girl. Had the accident happened on grass it would have been a different story, I have been told," Judy Boon said.

Anita is walking, gingerly, again, on crutches while she wears a corset body brace to restrict movement in her upper body.

Her injuries prevent travel and she is now staying with family friends in England.

"The nerve damage in her back has left her legs all numb," Judy Boon said.

"She has a feeling of sensation in only two of her toes.

"The nerves are expected to heal in time, but it could be up to a full year before she has fully recovered, and only then will she know whether she can play golf again.

"Her doctor said that providing the nerves heal properly, he feels confident she will still be able to play golf, but nobody knows whether she will play it again to a calibre she is used to playing it."

Boon, who turned out at No 1 for North Harbour when they won the national interprovincial championships, went to England in February to start a club apprenticeship and improve her game to the stage where she could play on the European women's tour.

That club job fell through and Boon found herself at Walton Heath.

A career in golf remains her ambition, but her first task is to repair her body.

"Anita is determined to play again. She's trying really hard to stay active," her mother said.

"I had to tell her off the other day for pushing herself too hard. I told her she had to take it easy.

"The doctors have said that one big thing in her favour is she is strong and healthy."

- NZPA